A 42-year-old homeless man has been arrested on assault charges after an accidental bump on the stairs of Manhattan's West 4th Street/Washington Square subway station led to one thrown beverage can -- and then a retaliative attack with a large knife -- in the latest string of violent transit incidents.
Cops say Gabrian Hidalgo was by himself when he passed the 28-year-old victim and two other men on the stairs leading to the A/C platform around 8 p.m. Sunday and they made physical contact. An argument began and the victim threw a can.
That part was caught on subway surveillance cameras -- and so was the moment the unidentified man by himself Hidalgo allegedly pulled out a large knife and slashed the 28-year-old in the hand. He then fled on a northbound A or C train.
The victim is expected to be OK. The other two people with him weren't hurt.
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It wasn't immediately clear if Hidalgo had an attorney who could comment on the allegations against him.
Sunday's incident was just the latest in a series of now more than a dozen violent crimes in the subway system since Mayor Eric Adams debuted his new safety initiative less than three weeks ago.
Major transit crimes are up 30% week over week, according to police data out Wednesday -- and more than 200% over the same week last year.
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Some of the recent cases have been particularly gruesome, including a hammer attack and robbery that left a city employee in critical condition late last month and a man seen on video smearing feces on a woman in an apparent hate attack.
Arrests have been made in both those cases, but the man in the latter case is now out on supervised release, officials said a day ago.
